


Awakening

by UnrealRomance



Series: Impressions and Deductions [8]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2016-05-15
Packaged: 2018-05-30 06:10:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6412177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnrealRomance/pseuds/UnrealRomance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A two-part Drabble focusing on Thane's 'awakening'</p><p>The Collector Mission and afterwards.</p><p>Thane P.O.V.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Something doesn't seem right about this." Vakarian is leaning over the briefing table, eyeing the schematic readout of the Collector ship with suspicious eyes.

"It's too easy." Shepard agrees. "But can we really pass up the chance to get intel straight from the source? Take scans of their technology, their weaponry..."

"I think it would be worth it, though we should exercise caution." Miss Lawson is leaning at the opposite end of the table from Shepard. "We should have people at the ready in case they attempt to board us, perhaps have EDI take control of some of the ship's systems to cause havoc within the base."

"That is an excellent idea." Shepard grins and looks up at the ceiling. "Think you can cause trouble for me, EDI?"

Her avatar appears in the middle of the table, dispersing the schematics. "I would be honored to take commands from you, Shepard. Though I am unsure what functions I might be able to control. I will assume air conditioning useless."

Shepard laughs. "Try and get some turrets or something that could trip 'em up."

"As you say, Shepard." The AI disappears, schematics back in place.

Jack huffs and leans on the table, poking the hologram. "Who are you taking with you?"

"You wanna come, Jack?" Shepard is grinning. "I didn't think you liked the Collectors."

"Creepy fuckers." She mutters. "I don't care either way, just get it over with." Her posture belies the worry in her. She is afraid.

I step forward and lean on the side of the table, looking over the schematic. "You will need at least one biotic, as their armor and barriers are susceptible to warping."

"I thought as much." She shrugs. "But I also need a sniper. I figured you could fill both roles, if it isn't too much at once."

"I believe I could handle it." I nod.

She nods back. "Great. So I need Mordin, too. All the collector bodies broke down before we could study them, so hopefully he can take some scans and figure them out a little better if he's right out there in front of it. Plus he can hack pretty well and I'm sure we'll need that too."

"Happy to be of service, Shepard." The Professor nods.

"Ehhh." Grunt groans in an utterly adolescent way. "I don't get to go?"

"I'll take you hunting for something big and dangerous once we get back." Shepard promises with a smile. "You'd be a little too much for this one, I think."

He snorts. "Don't die before I can challenge you on equal ground, Battlemaster."

She smiles with more warmth. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Kasumi is fidgeting at my side. "Are you sure I couldn't follow, cloaked?"

"Too many could be a liability, regardless of their talent for disappearing." Shepard makes an apologetic face. "Sorry, Kas."

...

The Collector ship is quiet when we first board.

" _This ship's signature seems to be the same as the Collector ship that attacked Horizon_." EDI's voice over the comms isn't startling, but the news she brings is enough to set Shepard on edge.

" _Looks like we're cleaning up our own mess, Commander._ " The pilot this time. He and Shepard seem to have a very close relationship.

"Should find some kind of terminal, plant EDI's virus." The Professor is scanning the nearby area with his omni-tool as we walk down a nearly _organic_ hallway.

There is not much to see aside from the utter strangeness. No Collectors or any of their technology just out in the open.

We come to a bend in the path and Shepard pauses. "One of those pods they were using on Freedom's Progress. To transport people." She stares at it for a long moment. "Do you think-"

"Doubt anyone on ship." The Professor interjects. "Whatever purpose humans serve, probably take them all back to base."

"True enough, I guess." There is a wistful twist to her expression.

I grasp her shoulder and she blinks at me before smiling. It is small and brittle, but her appreciation is evident.

' _I hold her hand when the next wave of pain takes her, whispering soothing prayers into her forehead as she pushes-'_

I shake off the sudden lapse into memory and release Shepard, wondering at the connection between comforting Shepard now and my wife during her labor with Kolyat.

I'm certain Shepard's noticed my sudden disquiet, she's sending me looks as we walk. I shake my head and she turns her attention forward.

A bit further down the path, we come upon a pile of bodies. Half-decayed and stacked without much care. If there was any scent here, I'm certain it would be unbearable.

Shepard goes down on one knee to examine the pile, brow pinching. "These bodies...were they not useful for whatever they need them for?"

"Likely experimental subjects." The Professor says. "Analyzed and dissected, then discarded when no longer viable for use."

"People thrown into a pile like trash..." She sighs and stands, body shaking but not weaving. "It's too much like...let's keep moving."

Along the path we walk until we come upon piles of salvage that Shepard picks through, finding a medi-gel dispenser.

Again we move on, until we see a pod on a table, with a terminal standing next to it. Shepard pauses to lift her SMG and prowls forward, slowly and carefully. She searches the small room for any hidden Collector presence. "It seems clear." She mutters. "Mordin, check this terminal. Thane, stay out of sight and have your rifle ready."

I draw the rifle off my back and crouch at the side of the room.

The Professor scans the Terminal and begins hacking, linking with EDI to let her into the system. "DNA samples. Comparison testing." The Professor shakes his head and turns to glance at Shepard. "Searching for similarities between Collectors and Humans."

"For what? Does it say?" She is watching the other end of the room, vigilant. "Or does it say-"

" _I have found something Shepard._ " The ominous tone of the A.I.'s voice doesn't go unnoticed.

Shepard grimaces. "Let me have it, EDI."

" _The Collectors DNA matches closely with that of...the Protheans._ " There is a pause as the A.I. Allows that to sink in. " _The DNA samples that were recovered and collected at temples and such were incomplete but they do indeed match._ "

"Oh my god." Shepard stands from her perch at the mouth of the far hallway and walks over to the pod. "The Protheans? Are they...they're..."

" _Whatever they were, they are now only constructs._ " The A.I. speaks with the authority of a machine. " _They've been genetically altered, tech replacing many of their internal organs and brain functions. I would hesitate to call them alive, or aware._ "

Shepard bows her head. "So we're just killing robots, is what you're telling me. Like LOKI mechs."

" _Yes, Shepard._ " The A.I. answers.

"Shepard?" She has suddenly doubled over.

"There's some weapons down here." She mutters and picks up a rather impressive looking sniper rifle. "Come look at this, we'll have to move forward soon."

Replacing my rifle on my back, I walk up to examine the sniper as she picks up an assault rifle. "Anti-material. Could be useful." I slot it into the left rifle slot on my back.

"This is pretty good too." Shepard picks up a shotgun and slots it behind her hips. She always leaves that slot open, in case she finds something good for Grunt or Tali.

She places her usual assault rifle on the Professor's back and places the new one on her own back. "We'll see if it's better than my old one."

The journey ahead is slow, sedate, quiet.

We only pause when we come upon pods with occupants still within them. Shepard steps over to one but the A.I. informs her that there are no life signs in any of them.

Shepard moves a bit more quickly after that. She wants to get this over with, I can't blame her.

The Pilot speaks over the Comm as we walk across a long ramp. " _Shepard, me and EDI...we found something._ "

"What?" She stops to look up at the ceiling and spread her arms, as if tempting the gods to surprise her.

" _This is the same ship that attacked us two years ago._ " There is a wealth of emotion in the blankness of the Pilot's tone.

' _The ship that killed her.'_

Shepard's jaw tightens and her eyes narrow, but she moves forward. "I'll blow this place to hell with me in it before I let them destroy my ship again." She mutters.

"I would prefer nothing was blown to anywhere." I don't often feel the need to interject, but just the thought of Shepard sacrificing herself so the Normandy can fly free, is...upsetting.

She glances back at me. "I didn't bring a bomb with me, so I guess it's just guns this time around."

We move on, into a large, open room.

"Collector pods...how many..." Shepard lifts her head to skim her eyes over the pods lining the walls and ceiling. "This many could hold-"

" _It seems they will eventually turn their sights to Earth._ " The A.I. Says.

"Fuck." Shepard does not curse that often. When she does it is due to pain, confusion, frustration. At the moment there is a deeply buried emotion I cannot pick apart while she is half-turned away with her helmet on.

We move on again, and I am struck with the Professor's silence. I glance at him, to find him fiddling with his omni-tool. Muttering to himself nearly soundlessly.

He stops and glances up with a swift jerk of his head. "Command console, ahead!" He hurries up to a dead end in the path we've been traveling, interacting with the console.

I glance around, drawing my rifle when a ripple of awareness pinches the back of my neck. "We have seen no Collectors on their own ship. No dead bodies either. I do not-"

There is an ominous sound and the ground begins to shake beneath our feet.

"EDI?" Shepard taps her Comm and switches her SMG for the new assault rifle on her back. "What's happening?"

" _Shit. Shepard, it's a trap!_ " The Pilot is frantic. " _EDI diverted the power surge to non-critical systems but one of those fuck-ugly Collectors was just on my display._ "

The platform below our feet detaches from the rest of the ground with a shudder and lurches upward. I shift my weight to compensate, Shepard takes a knee and the Professor falls.

He quickly regains his feet as the platform shudders to a stop.

" _Shepard, I have re-established the connection. There is someone else in the system, trying to divert me._ " The A.I. sounds as urgent as her programming allows. " _I must finish my download and integration before I can get a foothold, I will be unable to help you until it is done._ "

"Do what you gotta do, EDI." Shepard looks out into the beyond and aims her rifle. "We've got company."

The Viper I use for everyday combat is more than enough to deal with the few Collectors on the edge of their own platform. Using a biotic throw, I send two more sailing over the edge and Shepard practices with her new rifle, getting the feel for its rhythm.

More platforms converge on us, Collectors spilling from all directions as we make our slow way forward over the slowly built terrain.

My biotics are quite useful for throwing the Collectors off the sides of the platforms, and the Professor is good at taking the few out who try to fly back up.

"Incinerate!" Shepard calls for Mordin and he obliges. A cluster of enemies explodes in flame, just as another platform lands ahead of us. "Shit, a Scion!"

The biotic monster is bloated, blue and silver. Human skulls are perched upon it, though shooting them only slows it down.

Shepard activates her Omni-blades and rips into the remaining Collectors, ducking and rolling when the Scion unleashes a shockwave.

I switch my viper for the anti-material, sighting down the bloated sacs and taking my shot.

It erupts and emits an awful shriek, falling back over the side of the platform. "Shepard."

"Thane. Mordin?" She glances back and sighs in relief when she sees the Salarian.

"Shepard." He responds.

It is an odd ritual the Normandy crew indulges in. Calling out to each other after a battle. A good way to know when someone is down, I suppose. Reassuring them that you are there. Keeps morale up, at the very least.

We move forward once again, over to the Scion's platform.

Wave after wave of collectors descend upon us. Some with barriers, some with tougher armor, and another two Scions show up at one point.

I split my attention between watching Shepard and searching out the yellow glow of Harbinger. I was told of him when Shepard briefed me on the Collectors and what to expect from combat with them. When I first joined the crew she told me of its abilities and she was adamant we focus our fire on any glowing yellow Collectors before he was able to take them over.

It works, for the moment. When a Collector begins to glow and a deep voice boom deep in our bones, we focus our fire and its vessel is dead before he can take control of it.

The Scions fall more easily when I take the time to shoot and reload the anti-material. Two shots to the sac and they are effectively destroyed. Shepard instructs the Professor to Incinerate them if they do not fall off the platforms.

' _I agree. It would be unwise to leave a possible snake behind you.'_

A platform with an access panel is the last.

" _Shepard if you access that panel, I can regain control._ " The A.I. seems to be emoting more than her usual slight suggestion of emotions allow.

"On it, EDI." Shepard pauses to pick up a heat sink that has fallen from the grip of one of the Collectors, reloading her rifle as she moves toward the panel.

Shepard gains access to the panel, and EDI clicks over the comm as it begins to move.

" _Shepard, there is something troubling._ " The hesitance is especially surprising.

EDI might emote a bit more than she is supposed to, but she has never hesitated to say anything.

"Lay it on me." Shepard sighs and leans forward on one of the low walls of the platform.

" _The distress call we intercepted is corrupted and obviously not from a Turian cruiser. The Illusive man wrote my detection protocols himself, so it is unlikely he was unaware this was a trap._ " Ah.

"Of course he knew." Shepard flicks her wrist. "I assumed he'd been hiding something. Now, I have proof I'm not just paranoid. We'll deal with him when we get out of here."

"If you wish me to assassinate him, I will not charge you." I am quite annoyed that the Illusive Man chose to trick us over cooperation. Shepard wouldn't have hesitated if she knew it was a trap, but we may have been better equipped.

"If I ever find out where he is, you'll get first crack." She promises me with tight lips. "No one threatens my team, especially if they're supposed to be on my side."

" _Uhhh, Shepard?_ " The Pilot chimes over the Comms with fear in his voice. " _They're powering up weapons, and I don't want to stick around till they line up their shots._ "

"So we're hurrying now. Great." Shepard sighs. "We're on our way."

The ramp settles on the floor of a room and we move forward. Shepard is quick, but not incautious.

Collectors hamper our journey toward the doors that EDI opens for us. Mordin is hit with biotic attacks when we are unsuccessful in stopping Harbinger taking control of the Collectors.

I drag him behind cover and activate his medi-gel as Shepard takes up position to defend us.

He shakes it off before long, but remains in cover a bit longer, taking shots with his Incinerate when Shepard calls for it, but deciding to stay out of the thick of the fighting. A good idea, all things considered.

Before long we are fighting Abominations, their explosive attacks catch each of us at different points- throwing Shepard into the Professor or me when she takes up a defensive position and her omni-blade becomes a shield.

There is a Praetorian.

It floats and rains death from above, Shepard can barely whittle down its defenses before it is pulling its barrier up again, slamming its body into the ground and knocking us all to our knees.

I have to grab her around the waist and yank her behind cover when she steps out for too long, firing her Assault rifle at the Praetorian's eyes.

Mordin sends an Incinerate at it while I pull her down into cover, and I take the chance to shoot with my anti-material.

The Praetorian dies with a horrifying shriek.

It almost seems the waves of Collectors will never end. By the end of it, we are swarmed by Husks and my entire body is burning from exertion. My biotics are no longer useful. I will have to eat and rest before I can use them, or I will seriously injure myself. Our weaponry and the Professor's Incineration grenades are working for now.

A few times I have to kill a Husk with my hands when it gets too close. Slamming the butt of my rifle into their faces or breaking their necks as we rush through the ship.

We reach the shuttle just as Joker informs us their weapons are online.

Shepard is frantic in her effort to pilot the shuttle back to the Normandy.

The Professor and I hold tight as we land inside the shuttle bay with a skidding slide. Shepard jumps out and runs for the elevator.

There isn't much the Professor and I can do but wait.

...

Escaping the Collector ship was a harrowing adventure. Shepard had a meeting with the Illusive man when it was over and she informed the crew there was something else we had to do for 'The Illusive Bastard' before we could go after the Collectors directly.

She has turned the ship toward Illium for refueling, restocking and shore leave.

She comes to me after all her instructions have been given. She does not announce herself, but simply walks in and slouches into the seat across from mine. "Are you as exhausted as I am?"

"Twice as much, I would say." I sigh and crack my neck, flinching at the sudden pain. "I have eaten, but my biotics have overheated me. I feel as if I am boiling in my own skin."

"Don't Drell like it hot, though?" She is smirking sleepily, leaning her head into her hands, elbows on the table between us.

"Dry heat on the outside is different than this..." I hiss and drop my arm when I twinge the wrong nerve. "This slow boil in your blood."

"You can take cold showers, right? Or would that like, kill you?" She snorts and leans back against her seat, throat bared in a sudden move that draws my eyes. "I wish I knew more about biotics. Jack and Samara both just eat and collapse into bed."

"I need to stretch before I can fall asleep. I will wake up with every joint stiff if I try to sleep this way." I sigh and rotate my ankle under the table, it is throbbing again.

"I should probably take some pain killers, but my tech might neutralize it or something-" She leans forward to run her fingers through her hair.

_Shepard is uncovered, she is taking too long to shoot. I lean out of cover and grasp her by the waist, yanking her back into cover just as the Praetorian-_

Shepard is saying my name, her hand curled tightly around my wrist. "Thane, are you with me?"

"Apologies." I shake my head and blink at the vibrancy of the room around me. The silver is shinier, the black is deeper and her hair... "You did that- before." I pantomime her raking her hand through her hair. "After I pulled you behind cover. You took off your helmet to do it."

It was unwise of her.

She makes a face and laughs. "I don't know if you know much about humans, but when your hair gets sweaty, it itches. It can distract you if you don't take care of it. I usually fight it off until I can shower, but it was just too much." Standing up from her seat, she attempts to walk past me. "If I didn't I'd have gone-"

My hand lashes out to grasp her hip, and she is falling sideways before she can catch herself.

She is sitting sideways across my lap, elbow braced against the table, blinking a pair of wide blue eyes at me.

I can see the individual spots across her nose. 'Freckles' I believe they're called. I look up into her eyes as she blinks, pausing and wondering what I'll do next. I can see the wondering there, in her eyes.

"You nearly killed yourself when you ducked out of cover after the Praetorian. You were timing everything so perfectly and then somehow, you faltered. Why?" I didn't know how much it truly irritated me until this moment.

"It was...dangerous." She frowns as if bewildered, a flush creeping up her throat. "Mordin had already been hit, you were tiring and I felt like one good shot would knock me down so I couldn't get back up again. I had to move, fast- or nobody was going to survive. Or...well, that's how it felt." She is looking everywhere but at me.

I have not had this kind of power over a woman I respected in a very long time.

Human women either have one of two reactions to me. I am either considered a creepy lizard, because of the darkness of my eyes and the presence of my scales, or I am praised for the beauty of my markings and many other traits they seem to find attractive in their own species.

Among my own kind I am not that especially attractive. Green is a color not often seen on Rakhana, but on Kahje it is common enough. We adapted to the conditions there well, though the needles of pain burning through my lungs are a testament to how far we have to go on that front.

I am used to being looked at twice, because of the way I walk, the way I talk. Shepard looked twice the first time she saw me. She looked when we traveled up the elevator into the Eclipse base. She looked when I dodged a spray of acid from a Thresher Maw.

I wonder what she sees.

...


	2. Chapter 2

His hand is still on my hip, though I don't think he notices.

He's glaring at me. A little. The slightest change of expression seems so dramatic on him. His brows are tilted just slightly downward over his eyes as he stares up at me.

His lips part and I almost think he's about to tell me how stupid I was in the Collector base.

"What do you see when you look at me?" He's staring at me a little more intensely now, though his expression strikes me as more contemplative than irritated now.

I'm not that close to his face, leaning back on my elbow- but the fact that my thigh is laying over his is a little distracting. And that hand on my hip, did I mention that before?

"I...what?" I honestly have no better response.

"What do you see." He repeats, not asking but demanding this time.

"I..." I falter for a moment and respond in the dumbest, most brainless way possible. "I see _you_?"

His expression goes flat.

I panic a little. "I mean- fuck. What do you want me to say? What, physically-?"

"Nevermind me." He mutters and sighs, releasing me and looking away.

I feel like I just got dismissed and instead of pissing me off like it usually would, I get...hurt.

I stand up and walk away with all the dignity I can muster, stalking out of Life Support and heading for the observation deck. Kasumi will probably still tease me with one of those damn venom cocktails- but anything that makes me forget for a while is preferable to thinking about this weirdness.

...

Of course she wouldn't know what to say. I caught her off-guard, got into her personal space and asked her a question without clarification.

I huff and stand up, pacing the room and gritting my teeth. _'What answer was I looking for?'_

I'm not even certain myself. I asked on a whim, and assumed she would say exactly the right thing, as she always does.

In a way, I suppose she did. _'I see_ you? _'_ She hadn't meant it the way it sounded, I'm sure. Shepard is one of the few who knows who I am, who has asked for and received the information. She knows me, better than anyone has in ten years, since I became an avenging ghost. If anyone were to look at me and simply see me as I am, it would _be_ her.

But she still doesn't know everything. I give a long sigh and move to sit on my cot. Thinking that perhaps meditation will calm me.

My omni-tool chimes with a message from my banker. Odd.

...

I wake up with a throbbing headache.

' _Ugh. Getting shit-faced is_ not _the ideal solution to getting rejected.'_ I guess calling it rejection is being a bit presumptuous. I mean, he seemed interested and he never held that drunk kiss thing against me...but he never actually asked me out or anything. So this is just.

What? An inter-species awkwardness thing? A miscommunication? I mean, for all I know- everything he did was normal between friends in Drell culture. How the hell should I know?

' _I could do research._ 'Ick. Just ick. Garrus was fine with me looking up stuff about Turians and Tali was ecstatic that I was interested in Quarian culture, but Thane is...he's inscrutable.

So instead of torturing myself with the what if's, I decide to have some hair of the dog, get some coffee and go down to Miranda's office to ask about the progress on our Collector research.

I get off on the wrong floor and shrug my shoulders, _'Fuck it'_ and walk over to Mordin's lab.

"Shepard." He glances up and his brow arches. "Intoxicated. No. Hungover."

"Hungover with a shot of vodka in my stomach." I tell him.

He hums. "Doesn't actually help, Shepard. Will get you a remedy." He bustles off out the door, but hell- a hangover remedy sounds damn good.

So I sit down and close my eyes until I almost fall asleep and fall off the chair I was sitting in. Then I stand up and pace.

Mordin comes back before long with a bright yellow-blue drink that somehow manages not to be green...wow. "Should help."

I shrug and take the glass from him, gulping down the suspicious looking liquid until I hit the bottom. "Tastes...like bananas?"

"Bananas good source of nutrients, and am told- taste good." He smiles with a twist to his mouth. "Don't usually drink alone, why?"

I sigh heavy and slouch against one of his tables. "Just...feel stupid. For lots of reasons."

"Alcohol awful for that. Makes you _more_ stupid, not less." He shakes his head. "Always here to talk, if you need me."

I smile and try not to let my eyes mist over. "Thanks."

"Now, must study stool samples from crew-"

I'm out of the door before he can finish his sentence.

...

How could this have happened? I need to-

' _I need Shepard.'_


End file.
